Arafa C. Hamadi – LETU
Sat, 30 November – Sun, 1 December 2024
| free admission |
| no ticket required |
| VR goggles subject to availability |
| Ground Floor, Hall 2 |
| Belongs to: Histories of Tanzania |
Arafa C. Hamadi creates imaginary spaces and multi-sensory settings for a self-determined queer life beyond social norms. Born in Tanzania, they now work between Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, switching artistically between different techniques, genres, physical and digital practices. Thematically, Arafa is primarily concerned with questions of queer identity, cultural affiliation and body politics. They also organises temporary safe spaces and community events in Tanzania and is an artistic consultant for the annual Beneath the Baobabs Festival in Kenya.
Their project LETU: Frankie’s Story is an immersive virtual reality experience that allows visitors to dive into the 3D world of ‘Frankie’. We follow Frankie through her memories, exploring her childhood in Arusha and formative experiences at school and church. The LETU series of projects present an altered reality in which queer and non-binary people from East Africa can exist freely, surrounded by a landscape that they have designed themselves and in which they only tell the stories that they are willing to share.
Short Biography
Arafa Cynthia Hamadi is a non-binary, multidisciplinary artist with homebases in Tanzania and Kenya. They create both analog and digital artworks in various media from photography, drawing, video, VR works to large-scale installations. The works often play with the overlapping of the conceptual and the physical, the ephemeral and the permanent, in the hope of encouraging visitors to reflect on their own perceptions.